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The “Premier” Fairway Fertilizers with Poly-S and Extend By Randy Hamilton First there was urea. It is inexpensive and still used by some, but most professional turf managers want a fairway fertilizer that releases its nitrogen more slowly, evenly and over a longer period of time. Then there was sulfur-coated urea. Water in the soil moves through cracks in the sulfur through capillary action to the urea core, the urea goes into solution, then the urea solution moves back out through the cracks in the sulfur to the plant. This was an improvement over uncoated urea, but sulfur coatings tend to have irregular and unpredictable cracks and holes in them that tend to lead to irregular and unpredictable nitrogen release. Although there are many types of excellent fairway fertilizers that do not use coating technologies (e.g., methylene ureas, Nutralene, IBDU, Nitroform), the coated products are generally less expensive and are therefore commonly used for applications to large areas, such as fairways and roughs. In the early 1990's, The Scotts Company brought “Poly-S” to the marketplace, a polymer-coated sulfur-coated urea (PCSCU) technology. The smooth polymer coating covered all of the cracks and holes on the sulfur coating surface. Water vapor in the soil diffuses through the polymer, then moves through the cracks in the sulfur by capillary action. The urea at the core is made soluble, and the urea solution moves back out to the plant in reverse order. Because the polymer outer layer is much more consistent than the cracked and pock-marked surface of sulfur, polymer-coated products are much more predictable in terms of their nitrogen release. In the years after Scotts created Poly-S, there have been many other PCSCU products made by many different manufacturers, but none have ever surpassed the quality and performance of Poly-S. Several manufacturers also make fairway fertilizers consisting of a urea core coated only with a polymer, without the intermediate layer of sulfur (polymer-coated urea, or PCU). There are many different types of polymer chemistries used in professional fertilizers today. Some provide a longer, more even and more predictable nitrogen release than others. Some are tougher than others, resisting degradation during application through large spreaders. Some are less sensitive to high temperatures than others, resisting more rapid nitrogen release even at high temperatures. Some are less sensitive to available moisture than others, resisting more rapid nitrogen release even in very wet conditions. The ideal PCU would have all 4 of these characteristics. Although Poly-S was and is a very good technology, and continues to be a very widely used fairway fertilizer, the Scotts Company (now, The Andersons) wanted to make something even better. One minor weakness of Poly-S is that, especially in hot and humid conditions, the nitrogen is sometimes released a little too quickly, and the feeding longevity is sometimes shortened to a period that is less than desired. To help solve this problem, in June of 2000 the “Premier” fairway fertilizers were introduced. The “Premier” products blend the proven technology of Poly-S with a new PCU technology called “Extend.” Compared to Poly-S, Extend provides a slower starting nitrogen release and a much greater feeding longevity. The best way to summarize the features and benefits of Extend is to say that it contains all 4 of the characteristics of an ideal PCU that were described above. The Poly-S provides desirable initial growth and green-up, along with an intermediate feeding longevity. Together, Poly-S and Extend provide the perfect package: good initial green-up, some immediate growth without adverse surge growth, and outstanding feeding longevity with good color and minimal clipping yield. There are 8 Premier products to choose from. The 43-0-0 is 100% Extend. Another product (21-3-11 + Fe, Mn) contains 63% Extend and 37% ammonium sulfate. The remaining 6 products contain varying combinations of Extend and Poly-S, from 75% Extend to 19% Extend. Most products also contain Fe and Mn in a variety of combinations. For longer nitrogen release, choose the products with more Extend and less Poly-S. For shorter periods of release, or for cooler locations and cooler times of year, choose products with more Poly-S and less Extend. (The most popular product is 19-3-24 + 2% Fe, 1% Mn, 48% Extend, 48% Poly-S, 4% ammoniacal nitrogen.) All 8 of these products come in 50-lb. bags. All of them except the 43-0-0 also come in 1,000-lb. tote bags and are available through GES for bulk spreading. Because Extend feeds for such a long period of time, the label rates for the products with higher percentages of Extend are 1 lb., 1.25 lbs. and 1.50 lbs. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft. The higher rates allow the superintendent to make fewer annual applications, and perhaps to use less nitrogen per year. For example, a superintendent may have been accustomed to fertilizing his fairways with 3 applications per year at 1.0 lb. of nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft. each application, for an annual total of 3.0 lbs. of nitrogen. Using a Premier fertilizer with at least 48% of Extend, that same superintendent could make only 2 applications at 1.25 lbs., for an annual total of 2.50 lbs. of nitrogen. This is possible because of the very efficient way the Premier products deliver the nitrogen to the plant, and this is what makes these products such outstanding values.
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